A golf society for residents and friends at Condado de Alhama

Archive for August, 2017

Another special event this week sponsored by Paul Culligan, with 37 golfers (only 2 ladies so no separate prize for them this week). No wind to trouble the players, so 41 points was always likely. Shane Vivian just crept over the winning post by virtue of a better back nine.

Dublin Crystal

1st Shane Vivian (12.5)……………………………………41pts (on countback)

2nd Tony Morton (13.2)……………………………………41pts

1st division

1st Jose Ramon Fernandez Gonzalez (14.7)……….38pts

2nd Carl McCulloch (13.4)…………………………………36pts

2nd division

1st Dave Wareing (18.6)…………………………………38pts

2nd Kevin Smith (17.6)……………………………………36pts

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Jose Ramon has number 2 on his shirt, but he has been number one in the last few weeks……………….

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Sausage Dave has had a good run of results……….

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After the presentation we were outside the Clover and met a lovely family from Limerick in Ireland. Shane Scanlan played Friday and his parents Brian and Joan are also members of the society. But 6 year old Fionn was practising his swing and Captain Ken decided to present him with a medal for the best swing of the day, and enrolled him as the youngest junior member. He was so proud of his medal and maybe in a few years he will be collecting trophies at Condado?

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Fionn and mum…………..

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golfers coming – head for the lake………………..

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the water is not the safest place when I am around, if these ducks had numbers under them I would have won a prize…………………

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Next week is a 4 person team event.

A reminder to everyone – you cannot mark your own scorecard in any individual or pairs event – it must be done by someone else, and signed as correct by the marker and player.

Adrian and Heather have been very good friends of the society, and Friday was the third year running that they have sponsored this special event. Entry fees were donated to last week’s charity appeal for Cancer UK and they kindly offered to match the amount collected. Their son, Matthew, has been diagnosed with the disease and hopefully he will benefit from the fantastic work the charity does. 275 euros was collected and they matched that, so the 550 euros was added to the total which has now reached 2890€.

We had 15 teams (59 players) and the format was a 4 person team event with 2 scores on the par 3’s, 3 on the par 4’s and all to count on the par 5’s. Thanks to Jim Alwell who was unfit to play, but carried out the starter duties.

The winners were well clear, but just one shot separated the next 4 teams.

1st …………123pts

Jim Laird, Bob Whitty, Tim Beisiegel, Tony Andrews

2nd ………..119pts

Paddy McKee, Michael O’Reilly, Gary Kennedy, John Eadie

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an impressive prize table….

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the runners-up flanked by sponsor Heather and captain Ken………..

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The course looked in fantastic condition with clear definition between fairway and rough…………looked like it had a lot of water, but no rain recently?

But looks like Neil Simpson chose not to bother with any of the green stuff on the 4th hole. No out of bounds over the other side of the lake on the par 5 4th – an interesting approach? (Photo courtesy of Tony Morton).

I don’t think he could get the buggy around there………………

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another nice touch was complementary cold drinks from my patio on the 12th tee, handed out by Heather and Alicia…………….

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Chris gets advice from caddie Charlie on how to get out of this…… looks like he is on the nest and lost his egg………………….

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Roderik Bogaard waits for air traffic to pass…………

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Chris skied his drive on 2 and brought the zeppelin down…………..

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More pictures to follow on Tuesday………………………..

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Next week it is the quarterly Dublin Crystal individual stableford sponsored by Paul Culligan. Any queries about how to enter should be directed to bookings@cdagolf.com

In the raffle the main fundraiser was an Australian world cup rugby union shirt, which went for 210 euros. David Lyons played in the back row, the majority at no 8, and played 44 times for Australia between 2000 and 2007. Started every game in the 2003 world cup losing in the Final 20 -17 to England.

He played for the following teams: Barbarians, New South Wales, Waratahs, Scarlets, Stade Français, Australia. He played 83 consecutive games for the Waratahs with is a record for an Australian.

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Anyone going in the water on hole 11 had a 1€ forfeit, although the kindly tee position meant that not as much was raised as we hoped.

The end result was a total of 2,315 euros going to cancer research. Thanks to everyone who helped or contributed in any way and hopefully progress will be made against this horrible disease.

We appreciate this reply from Lindsay at Cancer Research after captain Ken Saunders contacted her.

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Hi Lindsay

Thanks for getting in contact. I am the captain of the Condado de Alhama golf society which is based in Condado de Alhama, Alhama de Murcia, Murcia, Spain. Our day went really well and to date we have raised 2315 euros.

Please visit the golf society website at cdagolf.com, for more details of the day to get a better idea of what took place Friday, and also during the next few days we will be publishing all the sponsors and donors involved.

Obviously the amount raised was in euros but we will convert this into sterling and perhaps you could advise us the best way to deposit the funds with you.

All who participated thought it was a worthwhile cause, and in fact I played with one player who would not be with us now had he not been given the opportunity to trial an experimental chemotherapy drug through Cancer Research UK. He has now made a full recovery.

Thank you for joining the fight against cancer by holding your Charity Fundraising Golf Competition on the 11th August. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to get in touch before the day, but I do hope that it all went well? I would love to hear all about it!

My name is Lindsay and I’ll be your fundraising contact at Cancer Research UK. You can contact me directly on 01865 332788 or simply reply to this email, it would be great to hear from you.

Once you’ve collected up all the donations, I can send you over all the details of how to send us your kind donation, or feel free to put them on to your Just Giving page.

Our bold ambition is to accelerate progress within the next 20 years, so that at least three-quarters of people with cancer will survive. Your support now will bring forward the day when all cancers are cured and we couldn’t do it without you.

I am sorry we weren’t in touch before the day, but I would love to hear all about it!

Our annual fundraising event was this year in aid of Cancer UK. Perhaps everyone has been touched by this dreadful disease, so maybe our little bit will help to fund research etc. to find cures, improve treatments and care. Only 2 weeks ago one of our members, Paul Coopey, lost his hard-fought fight and it was so brave of his partner Kam to join the captain on the stage to hand out the prizes. Over the last 12 months we have also lost John Killeen’s wife Miriam and Christine Worstall, who made the post-presentation sandwiches in the Clover.

Jan Bosch (from the Netherlands) is currently recovering, and as a result of his treatment the outlook is positive. Another good friend (and excellent golfer) Tim Beisiegel has had a bad year undergoing chemotherapy. Established methods of treatment were not working, but Cancer UK offered him treatment with an experimental chemo drug, and thankfully he is now clear.

.The weather was much kinder to the 67 golfers this week with lovely sunshine and bearable temperatures, and the course was in excellent condition. It was very appropriate that our tribute to the late, great Seve Ballesteros was won by a Spanish golfer, Jose Ramon Fernandez Gonzales.

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Seve Trophy

Jose Ramon Fernandez Gonzalez (17.4)……………………………….41pts

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1st division

1st Dan Hyde (9.3)……………………………………………39pts

2nd Paul Varney (8.8)………………………………………..38pts

3rd Anthony McNally (12.1)………………………………..37pts (on countback)

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2nd division

1st Kevin Smith (17.9)………………………………………..37pts

2nd Jeff Ruellan (21.3)……………………………………….32pts

3rd Sandy Simpson (22.6)………………………………….31pts (on countback)

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Ladies

1st Kristen Skjold (21.5)…………………………………….40pts

2nd Alicia Saunders (24.0)…………………………………..39pts

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our first Spanish winner of a major and it is on Seve Day………

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Dan is usually the bridesmaid, but best of the good golfers division today……………..

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Kev is either giving out prizes or taking them every week……………….

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a great score from Kristen was just one short but good enough for the ladies’ prize………

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Paul Varney is a newcomer to the stage…..

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Kam and Anthony make Ken’s shirt look wintery – all the leaves and flowers have dropped off………………

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Alicia was 2nd in the ladies…………………….

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And out on the course………………………

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This wasn’t Ken’s only brush with a bush……….

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green maintenance has now reached hole 9 – a friendly temporary green just short of that greenside crater……….

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No evening party though, as outside the Clover the Condado fiesta was in full swing……………………

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It was party time with 2 bouncy castles, a big wheel, 2 trampolines, and even candy floss. In the car park was a medieval market.

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Too much for one blog so in next few days I will post more details on sponsors, raffles and the auction – It looks like the money raised on the day was just over 2,220 euros. The highlight was an Australian rugby union world cup shirt going for 210 euros – a great result!

Well, Friday really was a scorcher for the 64 players – the official temperature on reports said 38 degrees……….but that was in the shade! It must have been over 50 out on the course, with no trees to hide under – a buggy was a necessity both for the shade and the breeze as we drove along. Eddie Rainey and Fran Thomas must have had air conditioning (by Apollo Air obviously!) with their fantastic scores of 41 points!

Apollo Air winner

Eddie Rainey (14.5)…………………………….41pts (on countback)

1st division

1st Fran Thomas (8.0)…………………….41pts

2nd Tom Skelton (2.1)………………………38pts (on countback)

3rd Richard Warner (12.5)……………….38pts

2nd division

1st Kevin Smith (18.2)……………………..37pts

2nd Eian Gordon (19.8)…………………….35pts

3rd Paul Borthwick (19.3)…………………34pts

Ladies

1st Pat Whitty (12.5)……………………….36pts (on countback)

2nd Ylva Johnsen (11.5)……………………36pts

With another good score Kevin Smith has gone clear in the annual Apollo Air trophy with Chris King and Dave Lloyd not being on site this week (see under ‘best of series’ on masterscoreboard).

One amazing fact is that 231 different golfers have played in at least one Apollo Air this year – at present the maximum rounds to count is 6 – we will look at that at the end of the year to see if that needs reducing to 5 next year which gives even more players a chance of winning it.

Congratulations Dave and Kim on the birth of your 3rd grandchild Matilda!

I have been meaning to show a photo of the new buggies for a couple of weeks – here it is……………..

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the first game out reach the 11th………………….

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Next week is our annual charity day, The Seve Trophy. The beneficiary this year is Cancer UK – thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to our plea for hole sponsors at 20 € each. If anyone can donate prizes for the raffle contact Neil Simpson. Many people must have been affected directly or indirectly by this terrible disease so please dig deep for this worthy cause next Friday.

Our charity day this year is on Friday August 11th in aid of Cancer UK. It is a charity close to our hearts, as one of our members, Paul Coopey, succumbed to this dreadful disease only last week. We are looking for hole sponsorship at 20€ per hole, and will welcome any donations to the raffle which will take place in the Clover on the Friday night. If you can help in any way contact a committee member or email bookings@cdagolf.com . Or simply buy some raffle tickets!

Please be aware that proof of an active handicap is required when joining or renewing membership with the society. If no proof of handicap can be shown then the member will not be eligible to win a major competition until three cards have been returned.
See Handicapping Policy
For further info on CONGU/EGA conversion see here